The James Bruce Round Barn is one of 31 round barns found in a four county area that includes Winnebago County, Stephenson County in Illinois, and Rock and Green Counties in Wisconsin. Twenty one of those barns are within Stephenson County.[2] The Bruce Round Barn was constructed in 1914 for James Bruce by Jeremiah Shaffer and the Haas Brothers.[3]
Design
The barn was designed by the team of Jeremiah Shaffer and the Haas Brothers, Shaffer's five brothers-in-law. The Shaffer–Haas team built 12 of 13 round barns in the Stephenson–Winnebago County area that have had their carpentry positively attributed.[2]
The diameter of the James Bruce Round Barn is 58 feet 8inches (about 17.7 m). Its exterior is clad in wooden siding, known as "drop siding," and it stands on a poured concrete foundation. The single hip roof is supported by a series of braces and topped with a cupola. The stave silo has a diameter of 12 feet (3.7 m) and is accessed on the barn's northeast side via a banked entrance. Animals entered the barn at grade level on the south side of the building. Above the south and northeast entrances are overshoots which extend from the wall diagonally and were meant to compensate for the building's lack of overall storm protection.[3]
The Bruce Round Barn features a single hip roof and a wooden central silo.
In the days before mechanization, round barns were seen as being useful because of their labor-saving features: the livestock could be fed in one pass around the barn, using the hay stored in the loft above the stock and the grain in the central silo. Cleaning out the manure likewise could be done in one circuit, with fewer wasted steps. The coming of machinery, especially with the Rural Electrification program, obviated labor-saving designs that were more complicated to build, and round barns faded into history.
Significance
The Bruce Round Barn is the last known round barn constructed by the team of Shaffer and the Haas Brothers.[3] The design of the Bruce Barn is important in the evolution of general round barn design. The single hip roof construction, complete with a series of internal rafter braces for extra support are the result of the inability of some carpenters to complete the self-supporting roofs that round barns typically utilized.[3] The Haas Brothers and Shaffer came up with two novel solutions to this problem.[2] The first was to construct a conical roof, the second, which is exemplified in the Bruce Round Barn, was to construct a single hip roof.[5] The University of Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station heavily influenced the roof style.[2]
The James Bruce Round Barn was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on February 23, 1984.[1] The Bruce Round Barn was part of the original National Register submission that accompanied the development of inclusion criteria for Illinois round barns.[2] These types of specific inclusion criteria are known as multiple property submissions, and they outline basic criteria for National Register inclusion for properties of a certain type and attempt to put them into a historical context.[6] Each property submitted under the auspices of a multiple property submission is listed on the National Register of Historic Places individually.[6]
1 2 3 4 5 Sculle, Keith A. "Round Barns in Illinois Thematic Resources," (PDF) National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, 9 January 1984, National Register Information System, National Park Service. Retrieved 14 September 2007.
1 2 3 4 5 Sculle, Keith A. "James Bruce Round Barn," National Register of Historic Places Individual Property Form: Multiple Property Submission, October 1983, HAARGIS Database, Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. Retrieved 14 September 2007.
The Lewis Round Barn is located in Mendon, Illinois, in northwestern Adams County. It is one of 14 round barns recognized by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. The barn was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 29, 2003.
Nisbet Homestead Farm, also known as the Old Stone House, is located near the LaSalle County town of Earlville, Illinois. The farm itself is actually in DeKalb County. The homestead is a stone structure, the only one in DeKalb County. The stone house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on May 31, 1984.
A round barn is a historic barn design that could be octagonal, polygonal, or circular in plan. Though round barns were not as popular as some other barn designs, their unique shape makes them noticeable. The years from 1880 to 1920 represent the height of round barn construction. Round barn construction in the United States can be divided into two overlapping eras. The first, the octagonal era, spanned from 1850 to 1900. The second, the true circular era, spanned from 1889 to 1936. The overlap meant that round barns of both types, polygonal and circular, were built during the latter part of the nineteenth century. Numerous round barns in the United States are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Round Barns in Illinois was the subject of a Multiple Property Submission to the National Register of Historic Places in the U.S. state of Illinois. The submission consists of 18 Illinois round barns located throughout the state. The list had major additions in 1982 and 1984. In 1983, 1992 and 2003 one property was added to the submission and in 1994 a historic district at the University of Illinois, including three round barns, was added to the submission and the National Register of Historic Places. The highest concentration of round barns on the submission occurs in Stephenson County. Five Stephenson County round barns were added to the National Register on February 23, 1984.
The University of Illinois Experimental Dairy Farm Historic District, also known as South Farm, is a designated historic district in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is located on the campus of the University of Illinois in Urbana, Illinois. The district consists of eight contributing structures and several non-contributing structures. The district was designated in 1994 when it was added to the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Multiple Property Submission concerning Round Barns in Illinois. Three of the district's buildings are early 20th century round barns constructed between 1908 and 1912. The district covers a total area of 6 acres (2 ha).
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The Raymond Schulz Round Barn or Raymond Schultz Round Barn is a round barn in the U.S. state of Illinois. The barn was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on August 26, 1982, as part of the original Multiple Property Submission, Round Barns in Illinois Thematic Resources.
The Virginia Tillery Round Barn is a round barn located on County Route 738 west of White Hall in Greene County, Illinois. The barn was built in the fall of 1912 for farmer Harry C. Price. With a 36 feet 6 inches (11.13 m) diameter, the barn is relatively small for an Illinois round barn; the median diameter of Illinois round barns was 60 feet (18 m). Its size suggests that it served as a general-purpose barn, not a dairy barn like the state's larger round barns. Brown tile blocks were used to build the barn, which is topped by a wood shingle roof with a cupola.
The Clarence Kleinkopf Round Barn is a round barn in McDonough County, Illinois, United States. The correct GPS coordinates are: 40.45506936294263, -90.81113789160236. Carpenter Dick Carmack built the barn in 1915 for farmer George Welch. The wooden barn has a diameter of 56 feet (17 m) and a shingled hip roof. The barn's entrances are on the west, south, and northwest sides. A haymow encircles three-quarters of the barn at the roof's base, and a ventilator sits at the roof's peak.
Ron George Round Barn is a round barn northeast of the U.S. village of Romeoville, Illinois. It was originally constructed for Frank Eaton c. 1912–13 in Bolingbrook, Illinois.
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